The Role of Giant Impacts in Planet Formation, Supplemental Video 3: Erosion of two planets in a giant impact

Visualization of two planets undergoing a giant impact that results in the erosion of the target and impactor, based on computer simulation output. This giant impact outcome is sometimes referred to as an erosive hit-and-run. The larger (target) body is one tenth the mass of the Earth and the smaller (impactor) body is 70% the mass of the target. The planets are colliding at 3.25 times their mutual escape velocity, which equates to 10.92 km/s. The collision angle, defined by the angle between the velocity vector at impact and the line of their centers of mass, is 30°. At greater multiples of the escape velocity, the runner may be entirely disrupted after the collision.

Variables: The top-left panel shows mantle and core materials as unique colors for the target and impactor. The top-right panel shows the density of material in kilograms per cubic meter. The bottom-left panel shows temperature in thousands of Kelvins. The bottom right panel shows pressure in Pascals.

Software: Simulation run by T.S.J. Gabriel ([email protected]) using SPLATCH, a planetary Smooth Particle Hydrodynamics code developed at the University of Bern (Reufer 2011), maintained by A. Emsenhuber (Ludwig Maximillian University of Munich; [email protected]) and H. Ballantyne (University of Bern; [email protected]).

Citation: Gabriel & Cambioni (2023). The Role of Giant Impacts in Planet Formation, Annual Reviews.